I came across an article yesterday, The Impact of Regret on 8 Successful Entrepreneurs from Beat the 9 to 5. Much like the title suggests this was a Q & A with 8 successful web entreprenuers. The one question asked was “What was your biggest regret and what did you learn from it?”
Half of the answers stemmed along the lines of “I wish I would have started sooner.”
All of the interviewees are highly reputable in the online world. Some of them are wildy successful. Even though they are pursuing different ventures there is a commonality between them – they all started at the bottom and half of them (if not all) wish they would have started their endeavors sooner.
What this means for me and you:
We can be wildy successful too. I know I can do anything I set my mind to (and so can you) but when attempting something new we all have to start from the bottom. Success doesn’t happen overnight. Success is accredited to preservance and patience. The more you put into a project, the more you will get out of it.
The hard part is sticking with something long enough to produce the results you are aiming for.
I struggle with this. Sometimes I feel like I am a kid in a candy store screaming “I want it and I want it now!” But life doesn’t work like that.
I am constantly coming up with new business related ideas and sometimes it’s hard for me to focus on just one thing. But if I can keep my focus long enough the end result has the potential to be amazing.
What We Can Do:
You and I define success differently. We are suppossed to. We all live different lives and have different needs to meet and goals to acheive. What we can and need to do – is just go for it. Instead of thinking about doing we need to get our feet wet.
There’s no better way to learn than trial and error. Mistakes will be made but they will only give insight into what can be done better.
On top of diving in and getting started, momentum needs to be kept. It’s easy to lose focus on something when the results are not instaneous. But if success was easy then everyone would be successful.
We all have the potential to do/be/go anything or anywhere we want. It’s all about the tradeoffs.
If you gave up two hours of TV time everyday and instead used that time to work toward your goals, where would you be in a year? Where would you be in 2 years? How about 5 years?
I bet that you and I would both be a lot better off if we consistently focused two hours everyday to one specific, monstrous goal.
The next time you catch yourself feeling envious of someone else’s success take a minute to think about how long it took them to get where they are today and how much hard work they put in. Then think about your own goals, what can you learn from the success of others that you can apply to your life.
Each and everyone one of us has the potential to reach our success. We just have to start at the bottom and work our way up.
Love this post! I’m all about people pushing through tough times and knocking over any real (or perceived) barriers between themselves and their goals.
Thanks! Me too, everything worth having takes time to get!
Thanks for highlighting my article! I’m glad that it struck a cord with you. I agree with your view and hope that regret doesn’t hold you back so you can get going on your goals!
No problem! Enjoyed your post;)
I struggle with finding time to write my novel and it is my passion and life goal. As a single mom, working full-time it’s hard to put time aside. I asked a successful author, who also had a job and kids for advice. Much like your articles focus she said she wished she had put aside an hour or two a week to leave the house and just write. So I do that; the libray, Starbucks anywhere quiet by myself and its helped. Keep your good advice coming. I always look forward to your new posts.
Thanks. There are times I struggle for time as well. I try to stay up a couple hours each night after the girls go to bed to write. I am hoping that eventually I can get to the point where I am bringing in enough money from writing and do different things online so that I can cut my hours back at work and focus on what I love to do. I would love to read your novel when you’re finished.
Great post! I struggle with the ” did I pick the right one” syndrome.
Wonderful post! I am currently working on adding more hours to my day. I’ve never been a morning person but I’m working to change that. I love that you talk about the fact that it takes time to become successful.